St. Mary S RC Primary School Parent Council Constitution

Issue 2- September 2008

St. Mary’s RC Primary School Parent Council Constitution

Name

1.  This is the constitution for St. Mary’s RC Primary School Parent Council.

Aims and Objectives

2.  The aims and objectives of St. Mary’s RC Primary School Parent Council are to:

§  Work with and promote partnership between our school, our children and all of our parents and carers.

§  Promote the school’s welcoming ethos among all of our parents and carers.

§  Develop and engage in activities which support the education and welfare of our children.

§  Promote and encourage the participation of parents and carers in these activities.

§  Identify and represent the views of our Parent Forum on the education provided by our school and other matters affecting the welfare of our children.

§  Participate in the procedures for senior teaching staff appointments.

3.  Our Parent Council recognises the importance to our school of the established fundraising activities undertaken by the volunteers within St. Mary’s RC Parent Teacher Association. As a result, our Parent Council shall not carry out any fundraising activities.

Membership

4.  Any parent or carer that has at least one child attending our school may volunteer to be a member of our Parent Council. Ideally a broad cross-section of parents will be represented on our Parent Council.

5.  The membership will be from a minimum of three parents or carers up to a maximum number of twelve parents or carers.

6.  Parent members of our Parent Council may serve for up to three years so long as they have at least one child attending our school. After this time they may put themselves forward again as a volunteer if they wish.

7.  In the event that the number of volunteers exceeds the number of places set out in this constitution, the following measures (in the order presented) will be used to determine how places are allocated:

(a)  Voluntary adjustment (i.e. some people may volunteer to stand down).

(b)  Members will be selected randomly by drawing names from a hat at the Annual General Meeting. Volunteers will agree to their name being included in the draw.

8.  Anyone not selected will continue to have the opportunity to attend all Parent Council meetings and activities and may be co-opted on to relevant sub-groups.

9.  Despite item six above, one-third of the parent members appointed to our first Parent Council in August 2007 will stand down at the first annual general meeting in order to establish a pattern of regular review that encourages a continuing mix of established and new members thereafter.

10.  Our Parent Council may co-opt additional members to assist in carrying out its functions. Co-opted members may be drawn from some or all of the following groups:

(a)  Staff at the school, including support staff.

(b)  Councillors of East Lothian Council whose ward is associated with the school

(c)  St. Mary’s RC PTA representation

(d)  Pupil Council representation

(e)  St. Mary’s Health Group Representation

11.  Our Parent Council must co-opt at least one representative from the Roman Catholic Church.

12.  Co-opted members will serve for up to one year. Co-opted membership shall be reviewed annually.

13.  The Head Teacher, or their representative, will be present at all meetings to participate and to give advice, but will not be a member.

14.  Our Parent Council may establish sub-groups comprising at least one member of our Parent Council with others (whether or not they are members of our Parent Council). Sub-groups will be responsible for taking forward specific objectives identified by our Parent Council and will report to our Parent Council.

Termination of Membership

15.  If a member acts in a way that is considered by other members to undermine the objectives of our Parent Council, their membership shall be terminated if the majority of our parent members agree. Written confirmation of termination would be sent within ten working days of the decision being taken.

Office Bearers

16.  Our Parent Council will have a Chair and a Vice Chair. These positions will be filled voluntarily from the members of our Parent Council immediately following its formation.

17.  The Chair and Vice Chair may serve for up to two years before standing down. They may volunteer for these positions again at that time if they wish.

18.  The Chair must be a parent member of our Parent Council.

19.  Our Parent Council will include a voluntarily appointed Clerk. Their role shall include the preparation and distribution of minutes. They may, unless they are a member of our Parent Council, be paid for their services by East Lothian Council.

Scheduled Meetings

20.  Our Parent Council will meet at least once in every school term. Dates will be scheduled at the beginning of the school year.

21.  The quorum will be at least 50% of its parent membership.

22.  Meetings will be open to the public, unless our Parent Council is discussing a particular issue which it considers should be dealt with on a confidential basis. In such circumstances, only members of our Parent Council, the Head Teacher or their representative, and anyone specifically invited to the meeting, may attend.

23.  Our Parent Council may, for the purposes of addressing specific issues or areas of interest, invite participation in any meeting from any non member or group.

24.  Minutes will be taken for all meetings of our Parent Council. Copies of the minutes will be made available to all parents, carers and staff of our school.

Annual General Meeting

25.  An annual general meeting will be held in September of each year. A notice of the meeting including date, time and place will be sent to all members of the Parent Forum at least two weeks in advance. The meeting will include:

(a)  A report on the work of our Parent Council and any sub-groups.

(b)  Agreement of the membership of our Parent Council.

(c)  Selection of a Chair and Vice Chair, if required.

(d)  Discussion of issues that any parent may wish to raise.

Voting Rights

26.  Should a vote be necessary to make any decision at any of our Parent Council meetings, only the parent members will have voting rights. Each parent member at the meeting will have one vote, with the Chair having a second or casting vote in the event of a tie.

Special Meetings

27.  Where the majority of our Parent Council wishes an additional meeting to be held, then this shall be arranged. All members of our Parent Council will be given at least 7 days notice of the date, time and place of the additional meeting.

28.  If twenty or more members of our Parent Forum request a special meeting to discuss issues falling within our Parent Council’s remit, our Parent Council shall arrange this. Our Parent Council will give our Parent Forum at least 14 days notice of the date, time and place of the meeting and will circulate a notice of the matter(s) to be discussed.

Finance

29.  Our Parent Council funds shall be managed by the Education Authority.

Amendments to the Constitution

30.  Our Parent Council may, with the consent of our Parent Forum, change its constitution. Members of our Parent Forum will be sent a copy of any proposed amendment and given reasonable time to respond to the proposal.

31.  Copies of the amended constitution will be lodged with the Authority and Head Teacher.

Dissolution

32.  Should our Parent Council cease to exist, any remaining funds will be passed to the Education Authority to be used for the benefit of St. Mary’s RC Primary School.